Lukashenko claims he didn't offer Prigozhin security guarantees and covers up for Putin
Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of the Republic of Belarus, has said that he did not offer security guarantees to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner Group leader reportedly killed in a plane crash on 23 August, after Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny in Russia.
Source: BelTA, a Belarusian state-controlled media outlet
Quote from Lukashenko: "To answer your question openly: I should not be the one in charge of Prigozhin’s security. That’s the first thing. Second, this was never even discussed."
Details: Lukashenko also said that he discussed Prigozhin’s security with him on two occasions.
Quote from Lukashenko: "We have touched on this twice. First, when I called him and negotiations were underway, when [Wagner Group forces] were marching on Moscow. I told him: ‘Zhenya [short for Yevgeny – ed.], do you realise that your people will be killed and you will be killed?’ He was enraged; he had come straight from the front: ‘To hell with it, let me be killed!’ So I told him: ‘Zhenya, let me send you a piece of rope and a bar of soap.’ ‘No, no, no, I don’t want it to happen this way. I want to die a hero.’ That was our first conversation. The second time we talked was when he and Dima Utkin came to see me. I warned both of them: ‘Watch out, guys.’"
Details: Lukashenko insisted that Putin could not be behind Prigozhin’s death, claiming that it was too much of a "hack job".
"I can’t say who did it. I wouldn’t want to be a defence lawyer, even for my own elder brother. But I know Putin. He is a very measured, very calm – even slow – person, even when he makes decisions regarding less complicated issues. So I can’t imagine Putin did it or that Putin is to blame. It’s too much of a hack job, too unprofessional," Lukashenko said.
Background:
- The Wagner Group took part in the war in Ukraine and was particularly active in and around the city of Bakhmut; by late spring, they had left Bakhmut and were setting up camps elsewhere.
- On 24 June, the Wagner Group started an armed mutiny in Russia, saying it was due to their conflict with the Russian military command. On the evening of the same day, Yevgeny Prigozhin said, following a conversation with Alexander Lukashenko, that his mercenaries were returning to their camps. Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, said the criminal case against Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin would be closed and he would "go to Belarus".
- On 11 July, the Belarusian Ministry of Defence said Belarusian forces would "exchange experience" with mercenaries from the Wagner Group at Belarusian training grounds. On 14 July, joint training of units of the Belarusian territorial defence forces and Wagner mercenaries took place near Asipovičy, Belarus.
- On the evening of 23 August, a small plane crashed in Russia’s Tver Oblast, and the Russians claimed that Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, was on board.
- The Grey Zone Telegram channel, which is close to the Wagner Group, claimed that Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane had been shot down by air defence fire. It was also shared that a terrorist attack on board is being considered as a line of enquiry regarding the crash of Prigozhin's plane.
- According to the passenger manifest, Yevgeny Prigozhin and the management of the Wagner Group were on board.
- The Russian media saw a certain symbolism in the fact that the plane crash occurred on 23 August, exactly two months after the Wagner Group’s mutiny [Prigozhin announced his "march for justice" on the evening of 23 June – ed.].
- Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin was taking revenge for the humiliation caused by the Wagner Group mutiny and ordered the assassination of their leadership.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had nothing to do with the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, in Russia.
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